From Harry’s Place...
‘Hey Khaled, looking good!’ The BBC as an Enabler of Antisemitic Terrorism
On 1 April the world woke up to a Hamas propaganda video. It took the form of a BBC ‘interview’ with Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas, and an accompanying ‘analysis’ by the BBC’s Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen. It was so Andrex-puppy-soft, so simperingly unchallenging, so knowingly complicit in helping Hamas to spin to a western audience, that I thought it was an April Fools joke. (It wasn’t.)
When Bowen met Mashaal it was more Susanna Reid than Jeremy Paxman.
Just like the besotted Reid, Jeremy Bowen began with a bit of flirting. “Khaled Mashaal looked to be in good health. ‘Keep fit to keep on resisting,’ Mashaal joked before the interview” Bowen tells us.
(I bet Mashaal was looking chipper. A private gym in Qatar, private jets, luxury hotels and a personal fortune estimated at $2.6 billion will do that for you. And if the Jerusalem Post is correct, Mashaal also owns a 2.5 acre commercial centre in Qatar, which can put a smile on your face.)
Bowen then allowed Mashaal, an anti-Semitic terrorist who has exulted in the killing of Jews as Jews, to preen and pose, without challenge, before a global audience, with the full imprimatur of a respectful BBC, as a heroic Palestinian democrat, a moderate man, a peacemaker, and a reluctant Liberator in the glorious tradition of Nelson Mandela and George Washington.
Bowen might have asked Mashaal ‘If your goals are so benign, and so moderate, as you claim, why not revoke those parts of the Hamas Charter which say “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”?
Instead Bowen opted for a ‘Mr. Mashaal, do you have a message for the nation?’ style of ‘interviewing’. Matti Friedman calls this the ‘ideological onslaught successfully disguised as journalism.’ Yesterday, knowingly or not, the BBC was used as a vehicle for Hamas Propaganda. Yesterday, to its shame, the BBC became an enabler.
The Muslim Brotherhood propagandist has found a new cause…..it is worth looking to see what Bowen’s apprentice, Donnison, is saying on Twitter? No, I can pretty much guess what Hamas’ mouthpiece in Oz is saying….ahh couldn’t resist…amused by this…
To an outsider the
@australian obsession with attacking@abcnews seems very small minded & naval gazing. Isn’t there any real news to cover?
The BBC’s obsession with Fox News and the Daily Mail anyone?
16 retweets 14 favourites
And Mr Donnison can’t tell the difference between ‘naval’ and ‘navel’. Any REAL reporter would just not make that sort of a mistake – and any claim of ‘typo’ should be greeted with the disdain it deserves.
More to the point, any reporter who cannot comprehend why the BBC is disliked by a lot of Brits probably could never understand why ABC generates the same dislike in Australia – neither the BBC or ABC enjoys having their bias exposed to the rest of the world.
Hint for Mr Donnison, ABC is also a mouthpiece for the Left.
Jeremy Bowen is following in the footsteps of many other journalists over the years who’ve conducted similar fawning, simpering interviews with dangerous, powerful extremists.
For example, back in the 1930s the Daily Mirror ran a similar front page interview with a “man of the people” who pleaded “let’s be friends”. The interview was similar in its approach to Bowen’s masterpiece of critical journalism.
The Mirror described this man sat at his desk, “unburdened his heart” and discussed his “hopes and fears” for the future.
Now who was it the Mirror interviewed? I can’t remember his name, ooh it’s on the tip of my tongue….
Interesting choice by the Picture Editor. A lesser man might have chosen a ‘Hitler Loves Children’ style to illustrate the line they were taking?
Fantastic- can you post the link for that picture , I feel Mirror readers need to reminded of that often
Not sure how to post the link. Try Google images; “Daily Mirror hitler interview”
Perhaps Mr Bowen is implementing a clever plan whereby he sucks up to our muslim enemies so that they reveal all their innermost secrets and when he has them all he will spectacularly begin to speak and write the truth about his erstwhile friends. That must be it, since there’s no other rational explanation for his behaviour.
Unless he is a BBC journalist.
So… Jon Don has added ‘don’t be mean to me mates’ to his extensive repertoire that mostly extends to ‘Bibi is beastly’ and ‘Abbott is beastly’ and… that’s about it to keep him installed downunder.
Sorry there was that time he brought the parched survivors of Vanuatu, um, his water-consuming extra body to wander about emoting like Lyse & Orla Rubble before sodding off once he’d filed a nonsense report.
The article itself is a worthy read, but I’d really recommend keeping going to the comments.
The first (on my feed) has a rather pointed, but funny, and apt dig at Danny ‘no one is bigger than my ego’ Cohen, but then instigates some very interesting insights from a rare beast: a parapet risking BBc staff member.
All BBC journalists have to very careful how they interview Islamic leaders. The danger of ending up kidnapped or dead is a real and present danger.
Honest reporters make it clear when they are operating under restrictions.
Wot, another left wing Tweet from a BBC correspondent?
Has anyone out there found a right wing tweet yet? Dez? Scott? Punxsutawney Phil?
yes bowen and donnison,where was you in kenya yesterday where as like from the scrapbook of world war 2 the nazi muslim al shabab cousins of isis seperated christian schoolchildren from muslims then beheaded and shot these poor christian schoolchildren to death,why are you not in kenya bowen and jonnison reporting on this holocaust of the christians commited by muslims.why are you and the bbc not reporting on these massacres of christians all over the middle east and africa,where are your voices bowen and donnison,where are you i ask.
I notice in the ‘interview’ Meshaal expresses his desire for Israel to return to pre 1967 borders. In fact this wouldn’t make any difference to the present border of Gaza as far as Israel is concerned. The only difference would be that Gaza then was controlled by Egypt whose present government have deemed Hamas to be terrorists.
Might be an idea for Israel to put Gaza under Egyptian control again. That would be the end of Hamas, and I doubt there will be any BBC journalists reporting from there while Egypt is ‘sorting things out’.
Naturally Bowen didn’t make any of this clear, either in the interview or analysis, he wants Mashaal to reserve his hotel suite for the next conflict.
What a piece of scum he is.
http://www.lbc.co.uk/concerns-about-behaviour-of-syria-bound-brit-107532…if this is what a good muslim is god help us.
Bowen is, of course, a hopeless bigot – contemptuous of the Jews and in love with their Arab enemies. He does have some talent for disguising his bigotry as journalism but he doesn’t fool those who know what the BBC stands for re the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Here’s a look at some of the ‘reporting’ on Hamas by the BBC:
*The continual omission of the fact that Hamas intends to destroy Israel, stating instead that Hamas will not recognise Israel. (That’s a lot like reporting that people have been wounded in an accident while omitting to report that people have also been killed.)
*Inviting Hamas members onto a talk show panel while excluding Fatah members in a programme purporting to discuss the Hamas-Fatah conflict.
*Flooding Gaza with ‘reporters’ who faithfully pump out Hamas propaganda during wars with Israel.
*Veteran anti-Israel ideologue Alan Johnston, based in Gaza for nearly three blissful years as chief propagandist for Hamas and bleating, “I’m going to have breakfast with the Prime Minister,” on his release from his kidnappers. (That would of course have been chief terrorist Ismael Haniye and not the PM of the UK.)
*Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur accusing chief Palestinian whinger Saeb Erekat of selling out the Palestinian cause (so nobly represented by Hamas) by talking to the Israelis and the Americans. (Can’t find a link to the video anywhere; perhaps that was a step too far, even for the BBC.)
So it’s unsurprising that Bowen would bow to Meshaal.
Sackur’s Hardtalk interview with Meshaal was, however, most unusual for the BBC, with Sackur even confronting him re the use of human shields by Hamas:
(It’s not the first time Sackur has interviewed him; the fact that he has access at all to the great man speaks volumes about the BBC.)
I can only grope around for an explanation for this departure from the BBC norm:
*Sackur got a bit carried away with the ‘Hardtalk’ theme.
*He is upset with Hamas for doing damage to the Palestinian cause with its terrorism.
After all, the illusion of the noble, gentle, long-suffering Palestinians must at all costs be maintained.
Inviting Hamas members onto a talk show panel while excluding Fatah members in a programme purporting to discuss the Hamas-Fatah conflict. The ensuring punch-up, had both been present in the same studio, would have been fun to watch.
True, but they have now apparently taken the step of forming a (dis)unity government.
And I imagine they’ll have a second Palestinian election in 30 or 40 years.
Would someone explain the lady in sparkling blue introducing this post, please.
That’s Susanna Reid; she was what folk here call a ‘sofa sloth’ on BBC Breakfast. She got some fame on one of the dancing programmes and quickly moved ‘to greater things’ – a starring role in the re-launch of ITV’s morning show. The ITV show is more geared to celebrity worship. Her name in the article above links to this page:
Flirty Susanna strikes again! Reid behaves like a giddy schoolgirl as she interviews David Beckham on Good Morning Britain